"Hey! Come on, don't quit on me
now."
"Forget it captain, he ain't gonna
wake."
"I can at least try. Come on! Wake
up!"
"It's not doing any good. Wait till we can
get him to a hospital."
He could feel the wind whipping
up his hair and pushing it away from his face. He tried to move his
head.
"I thinks he's coming round-- no, keep your eyes
ahead, I don't trust this damn thing."
"Okay,
okay."
"Hey, friend? You awake?" Luke stirred,
tried to move his hand to his head. "Hey, no, keep still. Can
you open your eyes?"
Luke tried, they were dry from
hours of being closed, but he managed to open them just a small way,
and close them again as the glare of sunlight suddenly blinded him.
"Slowly, try again." the man's voice was
concerned but stern. Luke obeyed, opening them again, slower this
time to get used to the
light.
"Hey, welcome back."
a dark-haired man leaned over and looked into his face "I
thought you were never going to wake up." he joked.
Luke
lay on his back, he was vaguely aware of metal underneath him, but
his senses were numb. The man's face stood out against the
intense blue sky with a few wispy clouds fleeting quickly overhead.
Too fast: he must be moving, probably in an open-top speeder.
He
tried to turn his head around to see where he lay, but a strong arm
held him down as spasms of pain shot through his neck,
"Hey!
Hey, what did I say about not moving huh?" He could feel the
wind rushing past his face, dry and gritty and biting into his face.
It reminded him of noon on Tatooine.
Luke tried to ask, "Where
am I?" but his parched mouth couldn't form the words.
"Hang
on." The man reached past Luke's head, and came back holding a
water casket. The speeder jolted, sending its passengers sliding into
the sides of the vehicle. Luke winced as the man hurriedly put his
arm out to stop him from slamming into the side.
"Dankin!
Slow down, damnit!" he growled. Dankin? He knew that name...the
memory wouldn't click.
The man turned back to Luke "Here
you go," he said putting the casket to Luke's lip and letting
the water trickle coolly down his throat.
Luke worked his
lips and managed to say, if a little croakily "Where are
we?"
"Enroute to Cabanor City." he laughed as
he replaced the top of the water bottle and set it aside "Not
that it would be a city in most peoples books, but there it
is."
"What happened?" was Luke's next obvious
question.
"Well, friend, we were hoping you'd be able to
tell us that." he frowned "You're lucky we saw your ship
come down, out here there's not a lot of people to see you crash,
however spectacularly. The Force knows how you survived but then, I
guess Jedi have a few more tricks for that kind of thing than us
non-Force users."
Luke's started. How?
"Hey,
relax." Again, the hand pressing down on his shoulder "Moving
will only make it worse. Don't worry, I thought you might remember me
but I guess you're still a little dazed by it all. I'm Aves, the
crazy driver up front is Dankin, my pilot from the Peregrine's
Nest."
"Nice to meet you." Luke half said, half
mouthed. He did remember them, he was sure he did but he couldn't
quite place them.
"You too, Luke." he frowned "You
don't remember do you?" Luke shook his head, regretting the
action.
"That's okay. We'll get you to a medical
facility soon, your probably still shook up." he leaned back out
of Luke's view. "You couldn't have picked a more desolate place
to crash Luke. I'd love to hear what happened."
Luke
could feel himself start to black out again as Aves' words began to
sound like they were coming from a long way away. The bright blue sky
was getting darker in his mind as dark clouds started to blur his
vision. Aves said something Luke couldn't make out, waited for him to
reply, when Luke didn't his face reappeared as a weak shadow against
Luke's fading world. Vaguely he heard Aves worried shout "Dankin!
He's blacking out again how much-"
He fell back into a
deep, dark night.
---
"Han, I'm still not
sure about this." Leia shouted up the Falcon's ramp.
Han's head appeared, a dark streak of oil smeared across his
face,
"Leia, you said yourself we couldn't take this to
the council. They'd probably think we were being delusional."
she sighed; yes she had said that earlier hadn't she? When Wedge had
explained it all to them, her first reaction was of course to go
after Luke, preferably with a large battle group armed to the teeth
behind them.
"And even if they did, it'd take them days
just to decide who to put in charge." he gave her his best rye
look. She'd had that thought herself too. Lugging their heavy bags up
the ramp and into the ship she said,
"Still, I wish we
could have had a little back up. I don't like the idea of going out
alone."
"What, so you want to wait a few weeks while
the senate gets itself into gear." he chided her "Leia, we
talking about a rescue mission here, not an all-out war. Not
yet."
"Yeah I guess." she gave in, resting at
the top of the ramp. She disliked the idea of sitting around on
Coruscant waiting for a decision whilst Luke needed their help as
much as he did. Han took the bags from her and headed back into the
ship.
"Leia, a few days ago you said to me that if it
came down to it, you would order the whole Republic fleet after Luke
if you could; if you knew where he was. Well, we know where he is,
but we cant send the whole fleet after him, it'll take too long, but
we can go after him ourselves, and I think you know -deep
down- that we really haven't got a choice but to go, and go now.
From what Wedge has described and your contact with him, he might
have found a way to escape them, and if he has, he's going to need
our help." He looked at her pointedly. He was right, she knew,
but she couldn't help feeling just a little bit uneasy about it.
"Okay, I'm going to go make sure the kids haven't got
threepio running in circles yet." she called after him into the
ship.
She stepped out of the ship and looked around, searching
for his distinctive shape amongst the people crowding in the docking
bay. Instead, she saw someone else she recognised.
What was
he doing here?
"Admiral!" she greeted Admiral Ackbar
as he strode purposefully towards her. She hoped he wasn't going to
try and stop her going.
"Princess," he said in his
gravely voice "I heard you are going on a...trip."
Deciding
to take the offensive, she interrupted him "Yes, Admiral, I wont
be gone long I-" she tried to think up a quick, believable
excuse "we're going to visit-"
"Its okay,
Princess, I know where your going, and I'm not here to stop
you." he said, holding up a hand in gesture for her to stop.
"Your not?" she frowned at him. Then why was he
here?
"Actually, I think I may be able to help you."
he looked around the bay, and Leia noticed for the first time that he
seemed a little nervous.
"Shall we go onboard?" she
asked, gesturing up the Falcon's ramp.
"Yes, I
think that might be wise." he said, striding past her and up the
ramp. She shook her head. This really didn't make sense.
---
"Hey Leia, you ready-" Han stopped mid-sentence
as he recognised the Admiral. He threw the oily rag he'd been wiping
his hands on onto the game table in the main hold "Admiral."
he greeted the mon calamari.
"Solo."
A
silence hung in the air. Leia coughed uneasily and broke it, "I
believe you were about to tell us how you could help us, Admiral."
"Yes," the Admiral addressed Leia, suddenly grave
"I heard that Rogue Squadron encountered a battle fleet in the
rim, I'd also heard that that fleet was ssi-ruuvi."
Leia
started. No one, no one, was supposed to know that yet.
Flustered, but only for a moment, she answered him,
"That's
what we believe, yes. " she said, letting him continue.
"Since
the invasion of Bakura, a number of scientists have been working on
the captured entechment machinery and ships that we took at that
battle, the most notable was by Cray Mingla, a student of Luke's for
a time, I believe." Leia remembered, she had given her life to
stop the Eye of Palpatine. "We've also made some progress in
other areas, but I'm afraid not very much. Apart from this."
He pulled a small black box out of his pocket. Leia looked at
it in interest, she could see Han was itching to take it apart and
dissect it.
"Dev Sibwarra was on their main cruiser for
a few years, during that time he began to translate their language.
He also began to translate some well known books and poetry into
ssi-ruuvi, all this was onboard the ship we captured, he was very
precise and meticulous about it, and from his notes we've been able
to built this. Its still a prototype and a little crude," he
almost apologised "but, considering you might have to board
their ship, it should come in useful." he handed over to Leia,
she took it from him, it was surprisingly light and easy to
hold.
"Admiral," she said, resisting the urge to ask
him why she hadn't heard of this military research before, "Thank
you, I know it will come in useful. I promise we will bring it back
in one piece."
Her tilted his head at her, suddenly
grave look passing over his face, "Just make sure you
come back in one piece." he smiled at her.
Leia had always
felt he thought of her as a sort of surrogate daughter.
She
smiled back, "Thank you." she said again.
"And
now, I better let you two get of. " he moved to exit the ship.
"I hope you find Luke. May the Force be with you."
When
he had left Han turned to her, "Well, that was unexpected. I
thought he was going demand you get back in the senate hall for a
minute there."
"Yeah, well, thank the Force for
small favours." she said, setting the small box safely aside
"Let me go make sure threepio knows exactly who's in charge of
who."
---
A bright light shone in one eye,
then the other, but Luke didn't think he had the energy to even
flinch from it. "What's his name?" an unfamiliar voice
asked, sounding muffled and distant.
"Deak." That
was Aves' voice, he knew, though it too sounded distorted. "Okay,"
the voice again, closer to him this time "Deak? Deak? Can you
hear me?"
Luke moved his head slightly to try and find
whose voice it was. "Okay, he's drifting in and out of
consciousness and his reflexes are slow. I'm going to get him up and
on a drip; he's badly dehydrated. What happened? "
"His
ship crashed in the desert, we found him about an hour afterwards."
Aves said. Their voices seemed to be drifting off.
"Deak?
He's losing consciousness again. Lets get him up to the ward."
Luke had the distinct feeling of movement as the wind of
their travel brushed at his face. There was the sound of running
steps, but
Luke couldn't tell where they came from. Shadows
seemed to be forming in his mind again, he tried to fight the growing
darkness but found himself slipping deeper.
The voices were
like whispers now. Vaguely, he felt them slow, and then stop. Frantic
voices shouted instructions as people rushed in and out of his
awareness before it went totally dark.
---
"How
are you feeling?" a voice said from his side. Luke turned over
to look at Aves.
"Okay I guess." He struggled to sit
up.
"Lay still, you're not healed yet. I was only
allowed in here on the condition I wouldn't let you move."
"I'm
okay," Luke said, leaning back against his pillow "just a
little tired."
"Well, you shouldn't be, you've been
asleep for 5 days. "
Luke looked at him in wonder "5
days! Wow...."
Ave's smiled. "Actually, the doctors
are considering you a bit of a medical miracle. You shouldn't be
alive at all."
"You didn't tell them who I am?"
he asked, worried.
Aves moved closer to his bed "No, I
didn't think that would be the best course to take. As far as they're
concerned you're Deak Cheptan, 29, comm officer on my ship. Your
single, naieve and a mechanics whiz kid. Since the invasion they've
been a bit jittery around here, everyone who comes in has to have
some sort of ID. Fortunately for us, they're not jittery enough to do
a DNA test. They'll probably have checked up on the ID we used,
though, so you might be better to act in-character." he said,
frowning. Luke didn't like his look.
"What happened to
Deak?" he asked, sounding sympathetic.
Aves sighed, "He
died on the way in, the console blew up in his face." Luke
nodded, not pushing him further.
He lay back and closed his
eyes, settled deeper into the pillows. Aves looked at him, he looked
tired and the fatigue was showing on his face, but other than that,
he looked pretty good for a man who had had some serious burns,
several broken bones, concussion and head injuries.
"How
long before we can get out of here?" Luke asked, his eyes still
closed.
"At least a couple more days. "
Suddenly
he leaned forward, focusing crystal blue eyes on Aves, shaking his
head insistently.
"That's too long, I have to get
out of here, soon." Aves took a deep breath, about to broach a
subject he'd tried to avoid until now. He leaned closer to Luke.
"Luke, when they did a scan." he bit his lip, not
sure how to ask this "What's the implant in your head?" he
asked, deciding skipping round the subject wouldn't help. A palanthra
of emotions spread in quick succession across Luke's face.
"I..."
he started, paused then started again "Is it important?" he
asked.
"Well, it had the doctors baffled, but they
didn't touch it." he said, wondering whether that was reassuring
or troubling to Luke. Obviously the latter, he realised as Luke's
face fell. "Hey, we don't have to talk about it if you don't
want to, I can-" he broke of, Luke was staring intently at him.
There was something in his face..fear? "I have to get of this
planet." he said, almost pleading with Aves.
Aves
swallowed, realised this was not just Luke wanting to get out of
hospital..."Okay, I'll see if we can get you out of here by
tomorrow.
The Peregrine's Nest -my ship- is damaged,
but I should be able to get something off the ground by tomorrow
night."
Again that intense look. It was definitely fear. And
whatever got a Jedi Master worried was definitely something Aves
should be scared of "And...If they don't let you out, well,
we'll just have to bust you out-"
"Thank you."
Luke said, the fear in his face almost retreating now.
Aves
pointed at him and said sternly "But I'm only doing this in the
condition that you do your best to get better, Jedi Master or not, I
don't want to be hauling you along all the way. "
"I'll
be ready." Luke said, again falling back into the depth of his
pillows. Aves moved to get up and go, but Luke reached out a hand to
stop him "Aves, thank you." he said, simply,
"Hey,
that's okay, you can pay me when we get out of here."
Luke
actually managed a laugh "Cash or account?" he joked.
Aves moved away and stopped at the door. "See you
tomorrow, Deak." he said, Luke nodded and closed his eyes,
falling into a Jedi healing trance.
"Don't be late."
faintly, he head the door shut before he sank back into darkness.
---
Leia sat behind Han in the Falcon's
cockpit, watching her husband and his wookiee sidekick send the ship
hurtling into hyperspace.
He leaned back in his chair and
stretched. "Well, next stop Sele4, sand dunes and mercenaries a
speciality."
"Not together I hope," Leia
whispered from behind him. He swung around in his seat to face her.
"Oh, maybe. If we get unlucky." She grinned, then settled
back into the chair, picking at the worn black fabric. "You know
Han, this is getting a little tatty, why don't you-"
"Wait,
Leia." he said, pointing a finger at her "You are not going
to touch the Falcon. We agreed, remember..." he broke of
as she started to laugh "That's not funny." he protested.
She continued to laugh. "Tell her Chewie. It's not funny."
the wookie just woofeld softly to himself
"Well, fine,
just remember who's supposed to be laughing at who when we get back
to Coruscant..." he said, a flicker of slyness sneaking into his
voice
"What?" she asked, falling for it.
"Oh,
I just thought the bedroom needed redecorating...something a bit
more...urban" he said. She gasped.
"Han you
didn't! You- oh, very funny. I'm really laughing."
Han
was laughing now, overdoing it a bit maybe, but using it for all it
was worth. She scowled. "What's wrong Princess. Too
scoundrelous for you?"
She couldn't help but smile
before her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she looked away. He
grinned, turning back to the controls. "Come on, we've got a few
hours yet." that was an understatement "There's still
a few adjustments we need to make, Chewie." He lifted himself
out of his chair and brushed past Leia. She was still blushing from
his last remark, "Anything I can help with?" she asked,
deciding to let his joke at her expense slide.
He stopped,
thinking. "Umm, na, there's nothing particularly urgent."
Chewie moved past her now as Han walked on "You could keep an
eye on the cockpit." Han's voice shouted back as an
afterthought.
"Yeah, sure," she whispered "I'll
just baby-sit while you go play." Resignedly, she dropped down
into the pilot's chair, checking controls.
This was going to be a
long journey; maybe she should catch up on her sleep....
Chapter
Two : Maybe....
"It would not have been necessary if you had been more
competent at your tasks." the admiral clipped, striding over to
Fr'h'tokh "but...I wont dwell on that issue. For now we need to
make plans, not just for the recapture of Skywalker. The offensive is
going well, better than we had hoped even, we need to decide on a new
target."
"Yes, sir." Fr'h'tokh answered
obediently. "I have a full holographic of this region of space
in my ready room, perhaps?" he asked tentatively.
The
Admiral might have been comfortable talking about such matters in
front of the bridge crew, but Fr'h'tokh was not. It wasn't that he
didn't trust them, but he thought it wise that they left as little
opportunity for valuable battle information to be leaked as possible.
The Admiral studied him a moment, before walking towards the room.
Without a word, Fr'h'tokh followed him. As the doors swooshed shut,
the Admiral turned to him "You doubt your crew?" he asked
bluntly.
Fr'h'tokh swallowed, "No, sir, that is...no,
definitely not. I just believe in having as few people know about
delicate matters as possible."
The Admiral nodded "Ah,
overly cautious perhaps, but not unwise." he said.
He
moved over to the viewport. "First, we need to address the
Skywalker problem. Whether or not we can continue the operation
without him is not the most important issue here." He said,
studying a small statuette of their Emperor "What matters now is
that he holds a key to our defeat. Perhaps he does not realise why
yet, but Swh'hr'ring's implant allows him to control our droids. That
technology must not be allowed out of our sight." he
looked up from the statue "I'm as anxious as you to use his
talents, and for the moment we should endeavour to collect him from
the surface, but if at any point his escape looks even slightly
possible, I want him killed. The technology must not get out.
It would compromise the whole ssi-ruuvi Imperium." he turned a
steely gaze on Fr'h'tokh. "I hope that is understood." his
tone made it obvious that there was no room for argument.
"Yes,
Admiral."
"Good. I have been considering the best
course of action and I think the best way to go about this is by
means of attrition." he said, again turning to look out at the
planet turning serenely below them. He was down
there...somewhere...
"I don't understand-"
"Attrition."
he repeated, "Wear him down. Two, maybe more, small but well
placed attacks to wear him out before we -you and I- go down
to the surface with a large armed band of men and collect him."
Fr'h'tokh hesitated before he spoke "Sir, wouldn't that
put ssi-ruuvi lives at risks? No one wants to die away for-"
"You
believe that P'w'ecks will be sufficient?" the Admiral
interrupted him scornfully.
Fr'h'tokh sighed resignedly "No,
sir." he said. It was true: it was unlikely a band of their
small subservient creatures could recapture Skywalker. They had
proved woefully inept at the job onboard this ship, and they would
probably be worse on the surface.
"Good, then it is
settled. I want the first group down there by tomorrow night. Now, we
have other business. Our next attack."
---
Luke
pulled himself up into a sitting position and stretched. "Good
morning." Aves said, walking away from the now-open curtains.
"You feeling up to it?" he asked, walking to Luke's side.
"Sure." Luke answered, adjusting his eyes to the
new light level, squinting only slightly.
"Good. Here."
he threw a pile of dark clothes at Luke. "Hope they're your
size."
Luke held them up appraisingly: a simple,
slightly shaped black top and trousers. Very plain. Very nondescript.
He'd blend in nicely.
"What time is it?" he asked
as he started to get dressed.
"Oh, about noon."
Aves was staring intently at one of the prints that were scattered
around the room as token decoration.
"Interesting."
he said lightly. Aves turned to face Luke as he was pulling on a pair
of black shoes. He studied Luke's face, to Aves, he still look
unnaturally pale and tired "You sure you're up to this?"
he asked.
"I'm fine." Luke said, a little too
tightly, not looking up. Aves might have argued but he let it slide.
He was just as eager as Luke to get of this planet and contact
Karrde.
"Okay, lets go." Luke said, pushing up from
the bed and testing muscles he hadn't used in too long.
"Right,
remember. Your Deak Cheptan, 29, naive. " he said,
walking to the door.
"Oh, I think I can do naive."
Luke said, smiling to himself as they stepped out of the room.
The
corridor was typical of a lot of backwater structures: plain and
bright without much in the way of decoration.
"Oh, no."
Aves whispered.
"What?" Luke whispered
back
"That's your doctor."
"No
droids?" Luke asked. Aves shook his head slightly, mouthing 'too
expensive'.
A small grey man walked towards them, seemingly
engrossed in a handful of papers. He got closer, past them. Luke
could almost hear Aves' mental sigh of relief -before the doctor
turned around and stared at them. Damn it.
"Hey.
Hey! What do you think your doing out of bed?" They froze. Luke
adopted a wide-eyed innocence as they turned.
"Huh?"
he said, acting dumbfounded whilst at the same time reaching out to
the Force to persuade the man it was okay. "I'm fine, doc.
I don't nee-"
"Your not fine." the man growled
back.
Luke looked worried "I was just stretching my
legs." the man mind was resolute that Luke shouldn't be out of
bed, but even so Luke pushed at his mind, hoping to persuade
him."
"No. Get back to bed. Now, or I'll have an
orderly drag you back."
Aves stepped in, "Hey, he
only wanted to walk" he stepped closer to the man "I'll
make sure he gets back there, I promise." The man seemed to
falter a moment, but then rejected Aves' excuse.
"No
good, he shouldn't even be vertical." Luke saw Aves slip a small
blaster out of the inside of his sleeve. He hadn't wanted it to be
like this, but he had to agree that they were getting nowhere with
this.
Luke looked guilty "Look," he said, fidgeting
uneasily "I didn't mean to cause any trouble, I just wanted to
get out, you know, it gets awful close in there and-" Aves
struck, he didn't blast the man, he brought the edge of his blaster
down against the back of his neck. The doctor slumped to the ground.
Luke was by his side, feeling the back of his neck
"He's
stunned, help me get him out of view." he said, lifting him up
and dragging him towards a small store cupboard to his left. Aves
reholstered his blaster and helped Luke
"We don't need
problems like that. We have enough already." He said as they
dumped the man's unconscious form in the room and closed the
door. "Nice act, by the way." he said
"I've
had a lot of practice." Luke answered easily "Come on."
They headed back down the corridor.
---
Luke
and Aves strode casually down the dusty streets, Luke was shocked by
just how much it reminded him of Mos Eisley, though here and there
was the hint of culture that Tatooine's main port never showed. They
were heading for the main docking bays: Aves had secured a ship that
would get them off planet but was inconspicuous enough not to cause
them too much attention.
"It wasn't easy either." he
told Luke "Since the occupation by the ssi-ruuk, there's
all but no hyperspace capable ships on planet -they were either all
destroyed the battle or they jumped as soon as they got the chance."
Luke just nodded, his senses alert for any warning that they were
nearing ssi-ruuk. But, so far, they seemed content to occupy the
planet by proxy.
"Have you seen them on the surface?"
he asked Aves.
"Just once, a few days ago; after we
found you, that's all. They haven't made any obvious moves on what
counts for shipyards here, or any of the mining operations. I'm
beginning to wonder why they invaded at all." He said,
"It
was a testing ground." Luke said simply.
There had been
something in his voice "Oh?" Aves asked.
"They
were testing how their army worked against-" he broke
off,
"What?" Aves asked, his blaster out.
Luke's
hand clenched around his own borrowed blaster. "They're waiting
for us." he said tightly.
---
"Okay,
keep calm. Where are they?" he scanned around the street but
couldn't see anything unusual. "Maybe we can still make it to
the docking bays."
Luke shook his head. "No, there
right in front of us, over there. " He pointed slightly to his
left.
"Perfect," Aves whispered "that's where
the bay is. You want to try breaking through or lay low and hope they
leave?" He asked Luke, not taking his eyes of the street.
"I
don't think we can hide -they're behind us now too."
Aves
swore under his breath. "Why now? Why couldn't they stay
off-planet for just a little while longer huh? You sure they'll be
gunning for you if they meet us?"
Luke turned to look at
Aves. "Yes." he said, simply and with conviction.
Evidently, it was enough to convince him they would "Ok,
then I guess we try and lose them. Any ideas?"
Luke
looked around the street, looking for any likely cover or escape. It
was lined with shops and houses, edge to edge, no side roads leading
off, and not much in the way of cover. It was almost deserted, so
they wouldn't just be able to blend into the background. Luke
momentarily considered climbing onto the roofs of the houses, but
they looked dry and crumbling and he didn't think Aves -or him for
that matter- would like to try it and fall several feet to the
ground. Their only option was to get to the end of the street and
hope they'd be more than one turning.
"Come on."
Luke said, holding the blaster low but ready, he jogged towards the
end of the street, Aves following swiftly.
"You've got a
plan other than running into their arms I hope." He said.
"Not
really," Luke admitted. They slowed down as they reached the far
end if the street. It was blind ending and unsurprisingly, only
turned left.
Luke let a sigh slip from him. Well, his luck
was rotten lately.
"We're going to have to fight it out,"
he told Aves as he hugged the wall and peered around the corner and
up the street. "I only count about 6 of them, when we get the
chance, split up. I'll meet you back at the docking bay. If I'm not
there, then get off the planet."
"What? No way, I'm
supposed to be getting you out of here, remember?"
"When
they see you're with me, you wont be able to stay long here.
You'll have to go." he turned to look at Aves. "Thank you."
he said
"Thank you for everything, I'm sorry you got
caught up in this mess, when you get back to Coruscant, contact Leia,
she'll pay you."
"Hey, you're starting to
sound like your not going to even try and get to the ship. I won't
get paid nearly as much if your not there." he protested, only
half jokingly.
"Ready?" Luke asked, not replying.
Aves seemed about to protest, but then decided against it. He checked
his blaster's setting once more before nodding.
"Ready."
Luke
reached out to the Force as they flew out of their hiding place and
into the middle of the street. The sandy floor made them skid a
little as they sprinted around the corner, stones and grit flying
up behind them. That was probably a good thing: it provided them with
a measure over cover behind a curtain of sand. There were 7 aliens,
luckily most were facing away from tensely staring down the other
streets and alleyways that criss-crossed the port. The other two were
staring right at them.
They looked liked they were waiting
for them, too. Luke couldn't read them, they were too alien, but
the way they gripped anxiously onto the paddle beamers and the tense
atmosphere told him enough.
Aves came out behind Luke, firing
all the way, the shots whistling past his ears as he dive-rolled into
the street, firing. Two ssi-ruuk fell under his barrage of fire,
honking in surprise as the energy engulfed them and then crashing to
the ground with a resounding thud.
There were five left.
Luke had to give them credit: they were quick, despite being
caught by surprise. He came up out of his roll and level of the
blaster, his fire directed on one of the aliens as its hand went to
his paddle beamer; it fell. Even as he began to sprint for the cover
of the far wall,
Luke realised they wouldn't be able to get them
all once they had their paddle beamers out. Shifting the blaster to
his left hand in a smooth motion as he rebounded of the wall and
sprang forward, he let the Force take control. He threw his right
hand out in a commanding action of control, channelling the flood of
energy that coursed through him towards the remaining aliens.
It
was almost as if he could palpably feel the energy ripple outwards;
the four were picked up roughly by an invisible wind that rushed
towards them in a wave of energy, it blew them backwards off their
feet throwing them several meters before dumping them unceremoniously
onto the hard ground.
Using the advantage, Luke ran towards
them as Aves took out the first one to clamber uncertainly to it's
feet. Luke arrived, and with a square kick under it's chin that
hit with a crack, the nearest one fell backwards. A brush with the
Force and he knocked it into black oblivion before turning his
attention to the next.
From nowhere, an alien flashed into
view and leapt at him. Sharp claws dug into his arms as it wrestled
him, throwing him violently to the ground. His head cracked backwards
onto the hard ground. It would have sent a spike of pain through him
if he hadn't been so concentrated in the Force. The alien landed
on top of him heavily, knocking the wind out of him and making him
see stars.
Blaster fire ripped threw the air, whistling past
Luke's ear and hitting the last to get up square in the chest. It
slumped backwards into a sitting position, looking more like it was
simply tired and resting than dead. The one on top of Luke brought
his paddle beamer out and fired blind at Aves. Luke wrestled with the
hand holding the beamer, but the shot had already been fired. He
heard Aves shout in surprise as the beam hit.
The big alien
reversed the paddle and brought it up, intending to send it crashing
across Luke's skull.
He got both feet under its chest and
pushed backwards, biting back on the pain that surged through his
muscles with the weight. For a normal human it would have done
nothing against the massive alien, but with the Force, the ssi-ruuk
flew backwards, crashing into the wall of a nearby shop and slumping
to the ground.
Luke force himself to breath, feeling air
rushing into his crushed lungs. He rolled over, sand grinding into
the cuts in his arm where the alien had grabbed him. He levered
himself to his feet slowly, checking that all the aliens were out
cold. Half crawling, he staggered over to Aves' slumped body and felt
uneasily for a pulse. He was unconscious but probably not hurt.
He
looked behind them, wiping a hand across his brow, streaking sweat
and dirt. The street was clear but he could feel more ssi-ruuk
rushing towards them; one of the aliens must have got a call off
sometime during the fight. He looked down at Ave's unconscious
body, weighing up whether or not he would be able to manage to carry
him. He hadn't realised just how tired he was, but he knew he
couldn't leave him here with ssi-ruuk chasing them. Heaving up
Aves unconscious body over his shoulder, he jogged as fast as he
could under the dead weight towards the end of the street. More
aliens appeared in the distance, blocking Luke's way to the docking
bays. He took the only route left and dodged into a side alley. The
shade provided some reprieve but he kept on running, gasping for
breath as his bruised ribs strained.
Turning out of the
alley, he made it perhaps another 500 metres down a street running
parallel to the one he'd just left. He knelt down in the sand,
carefully putting Aves onto the ground and laying his head back
slowly into the shade. He leaned against a wall, brushing sweat from
his forehead, giving himself just a moment to catch his breath.
He
felt like the world was crashing in on him, like a noose around his
neck was tightening and there was no escape. But Luke had
learnt
long ago, during the rebellion, even during his time on Tatooine,
that despair simply wasn't an alternative. He had to clear his
mind, think this through. He leaned back into the sand, thinking.
---
He couldn't carry on like this, Aves
wasn't going to gain anything for Luke carrying him around like this,
it'd be better for him if Luke could get him hidden and hope he could
lose the aliens. In the glare of the sun, he glimpsed an open doorway
that seemed deserted. Luke dragged Aves body over and hid him from
view of the street before stepping out again. The street was shorter
than the last one, and blind ending in a large, disused industrial
building that was boarded up. The street had several side alleys,
each leading to an uncertain end, and Luke couldn't be sure which
held ssi-ruuk and which didn't.
He felt a warm feeling on the
side of his head. He put his hand up, feeling blood. He hadn't
realised he'd hit his head, couldn't even feel the cut.
He
checked his blaster as he surveyed the street.
Checked it
again.
It was out.
Oh damn! His luck was
really rotten today.
He threw the useless weapon aside
and crouched further into the meagre cover of a shop doorway.
---
The Falcon arched down towards the
planet, skilfully piloted by Han and Chewbacca as Leia sat fidgeting
behind them.
"You sure he's still down there?" Han
asked her, not watching the view in front, but instead studying the
tactical display that showed two huge obviously ssi-ruuvi cruisers
shadowing the planet. So far, they hadn't even bothered to
acknowledge the Falcon's existence, but Han wasn't about
to ignore them.
"Yes, he's there, I'm sure of it."
Leia said with the distant voice she always had when using the Force,
eyes closed in concentration "But I can't reach him."
her voice was a little strained form the effort.
"Well,
it's a big planet. You got any idea where we should start
looking?" he asked. Turning for the first time to look at Leia,
he gave her a rye expression. "Do we just head for the biggest
port and work outwards?" he asked.
She opened her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Han, I really don't know, but I think he's on this
side of the world. I can't do any better than that."
"Okay."
he said, turning back "Lets try the biggest port, at least on a
planet this backward there aren't many towns to look." The
Falcon continued gracefully down to the surface.
---
Luke
leaned back against the cool stone of the doorway, waiting.
Waiting, and listening.
The doorway was in the shade,
but the sand was too hot to touch. Despite the heat, he was shivering
with cold. The doorway was barely wide enough for him to sit in, his
legs curled up to fit inside.
It wouldn't be long, he knew,
before one group of ssi-ruuk happened to walk down this street and he
would be found. There wasn't anything he could do.
Maybe if
he had been stronger, if he hadn't been in hospital, he could have
fought them all off, but the painful truth was that he exhausted
after only a brief firefight. He was shivering and his vision was
blurred, and he knew he had left eth hospital too soon.
Maybe
if he had stayed in the hospital a few days longer they wouldn't have
found him.
Maybe if he'd been able to control the
fighter better, he wouldn't have crashed so hard.
Maybe
if he'd been more aware he could have stopped Aves being hit and they
could have split up.
Maybe if he closed his eyes it would
all just go away.
No. He knew it wouldn't.
He
peered out into the street again: it was still empty.
Maybe
if he didn't feel so tired he'd be able to pinpoint where exactly the
ssi-ruuk were and pick a street where there weren't any. But then,
where would he run?
maybe maybe maybe maybe.
No
amount of maybe's were going to help him here.
Regretting the
past wasn't going to help him here.
What was he going to do?
Luke shivered; a cold feeling ran over him and permeated his aching
body.
It was already decided, he realised. Fate, destiny, the
Force, it didn't matter why or what it was, but it was already
decided. He couldn't let himself be taken back to the ssi-ruuk
cruiser. Not just for himself, but for everyone else; he had come
that close to killing his friends, had killed others who were
just as innocent as they were. He couldn't let that happen again. The
very essence of being a Jedi knight was to protect others, and here,
now, protecting them meant protecting them from him.
It wasn't
so much his Jedi morals kicking in, as it was a sense of
inevitability brought on by his own humanity.
He thoughts
went back to Ben on the first death star. Luke knew that his death
wouldn't be for quite such a high purpose as Obi-Wan's had been,
wouldn't have anything to do with the Force really. Which was
strange, in its own way, after having been trained in the Force for
over 15 years now, Luke had fully expected that when it came, his
death would be either to help preserve the lightside or defeat the
darkside. It was surprising to realise his death with be about
humanity, not the Force.
Or maybe that was what the Force was
about; life and death; lightside and darkside.
He'd never
liked the title 'hero'- what was a hero but a perfect man who
killed?
It wasn't an image that stuck on him well.
Maybe
no one would even know he'd died here, maybe they'd never even know
he'd survived Cassrine. Dying in defence of people who would never
even realise you'd died for them was probably the most heroic deed
you could do.
Not that it mattered whether it was heroic or not,
whether it was to do with the Force or not, it simply had to be done:
there was no trick
Luke had to miraculously escape the
ssi-ruuk. He could try, but if they caught him he might never get the
chance again to stop them.
He sighed, resigned to do it.
Inevitably, his thoughts went to all the people he wouldn't
see again, all the things he'd never do.
But then, he'd done
enough.
Now it was just a question of how.
---
The
Falcon settled down smoothly on its repulsor lifts, sending up
a plume of sand and grit, which fell slowly back to earth.
"Is
he here?" Han asked, swivelling in his seat to face Leia. Her
face was tight with concentration. At last she opened her eyes and
there was a light there
"He's here." she said, then
frowned "But.... I don't know, he's close but he
feels...distant." She shook her head, not understanding her own
words.
Han didn't either, but he didn't dwell on. "Come
on then," he said, brushing past her as he left the small
cockpit, "lets find him."
Chewie woofeld softly as
Leia got up to follow him. Han was waiting for her at the ramp,
checking his blaster.
"You think we'll run into any
ssi-ruuk?" he asked her. She shrugged, checking her own
blaster,
"I don't know what they feel like in the Force,
but I sense this whole town is nervous for some reason." She
said moving to stand next to him. "I think we better split up."
Her voice sounded distant.
"What? Why?" he asked
"I...I just feel like we haven't got much time."
she said.
Han sighed. Jedi. "Okay, Chewie, go with
Leia, I'll go on my own."
"Han I-"
"No
argument, you're not going out there on your own with ssi-ruuk
running all over the place."
"Look, I can take care
of myself, it'd be quicker it we all went separately," she
objected turning a steely gaze on him,
"Yeah, except if
you find him and he's injured, how are you going to get him back to
the ship huh?"
Leia faltered...."Okay, you win. Now
can we hurry?" she said, moving past him and hitting the release
switch. Han suppressed a grin and followed her out of the
ship.
---
They were on the horizon, dark spots
moving slowly but methodically closer to his position.
His
heart pounded. There were only four of them, but even if Luke could
get past them, he knew he'd just run into wave after wave of them
further up the street and down the alleys. He couldn't take the risk
of being caught again. He didn't have a choice.
Was he really
going to do this?
No, he admonished himself sternly;
you don't need fear or desperation. You only need the Force.
He stretched out, feeling its comforting reliability.
The
aliens got closer.
They all held paddle beamers nervously in
the outstretched claws. Moving slowly, they walked abreast so that
they stretched from wall to wall, blocking off the width of the
street. They also had blasters as backup.
Luke stretched out
towards the approaching figures. It was hard; he didn't have much
leverage, but he managed to silently flick the settings from 'stun'
to 'kill'. He bit his lip, easing the tension out of his hands by
digging his fingers deep into his palms, waiting for one of them to
realise. His luck had been that bad lately.
A voice
seemed to sound in his head 'in my experience, there's no
such thing as luck' he smiled. If it wasn't bad luck then he
didn't know what it was. Fate? Destiny?
Tentatively, Luke got
a hold on each of the paddle beamers with a form grip through the
Force. The aliens weren't holding them too tightly that Luke wouldn't
be able to pull them free.
A few seconds left.
He
thought he felt a flicker in the Force, recognised it but dismissed
it: he needed to concentrate.
Taking a deep breath and saying
a silent good bye to Leia, he sidestepped out into the open. There
was a moment of dizziness as his legs refused to obey orders to stay
upright, there was also a moment of perplexity that came from the
aliens as hey saw a lone figure suddenly step out uncertainly into
the road in front of them. Luke used the moment, yanking the paddle
beamers from their hands and throwing them behind him.
The
alien's stared at him, fear and growing surprise spreading across
their emotions.
It felt like an eternity before one of them
reached down to its side. The blaster was in it's hand, and the alien
began to move the weapon up for aim. Luke watched it, waiting,
keeping his mind deep in the Force.
The blaster came up,
achingly slow.
Luke had a moment of uncertainty, but only a
moment. The alien had him in its sights. Luke's muscles tensed as it
squeezed the trigger. There was a blinding flash-
Searing pain
ripped through his shoulder before the sound of the blast hit his
ears, exploding through his shocked body like a second hit.
He
gasped in pain as he stumbled backwards from the blast. His shoulder
burned with a fire that coursed through his veins and his muscles
trembled.
He tried to cry out but his voice didn't respond,
his eyes flickered open as a voice shouted strange, muddled words in
his ears. He was on his back without ever having had the sensation of
falling. His vision blurred, the world suddenly full of a sickening
mix of dark and light that merged in his vision.
Warmth
brushed tentatively at his neck as lightning flashed before his eyes;
lights played dizzyingly in front him before his mind fell backwards
and away from the trouble of staying conscious.
---
Han
crept down one of the many deserted alleyways -they were too quiet,
he'd already decided. It might have been the middle of a hot, sticky
day but even so there should have been someone outside. He considered
giving Leia a call but then decided against it: if she'd found
anything she'd call him. And besides: Chewie was with her.
He
kept close to the wall as he approached the end of one ally that
seemed to empty out into a wider street. A group of the big
lizard-like aliens strode past the entrance to the street, hurriedly
he flitted back into the shadows whilst they went past. They walked
in a strange formation, lining the street; walking abreast.
He
crept forward again and watched them turn a corner into another
alley. They seemed to be talking into some sort of comlink. With no
better plan, he followed them.
He ran up to the alley
entrance, as he reached it he saw them walk into another larger
street and turn left.
Not wanting to follow them directly, he
looked down his own street; a few meters down there was another ally
that he hoped would lead into the same one they had just turned into.
Then there was the noise of marching feet behind him. Twisting
around, he saw another group of the aliens approaching. Making a
quick decision, he headed down the other alley. Blaster held close
and tight, he sprinted lightly down the alleyway.
As he
cautiously approached the end of the small alley, a figure stepped
out into the street ahead of him. Han started, skidding to a stop.
The lithe black figure reached the centre of the street and stopped.
A flash of blonde hair showed Han he wasn't seeing things:
It
was Luke.
Han tried to cry his name but found his throat was
suddenly dry. Instead, he sprinted for the end of the alley.
Before
he reached the end of it he knew something was wrong, a cold feeling
spreading up his back. There was something wrong about the way Luke
was just stood there.
A blaster fired, it resounded down the
alley even as Han saw Luke stumble backwards and fall over in a heap.
"Luke!" he shouted, senses going numb. He
forced his legs to respond faster, racing out of the alley, firing
wildly at whoever had fired that blaster shot. Two ssi-ruuk fell
under his surprise fire; the other two were too stunned to move fast
enough to bring their own blasters up.
Han reached Luke's
side, knelt, looking for any sign Luke was still aware.
"Luke!
Luke!?" memories of Hoth flashed, "Come on buddy..."
He felt Luke's neck for a pulse as he fired blind as the big
aliens eventually brought their own blasters up against him.
There
was a slow, weak pulse. Luke opened his eyes, blinking. His eyelids
flickered and he moaned softly.
"Luke?" Han asked,
but he didn't reply. His eyes closed again and he slumped downwards.
Han's anxiety rose a notch as Luke slumped in his arms.
All
the aliens lay dead on the floor. Han stood up, getting his hands
under Luke's shoulders and dragging the limp Jedi to his feet.
"No
you don't." Han spat, "You've died once on me in the past
few months, your not doing it to me again. "
He had Luke
cradled in his arms now, blaster held ready as he stared down at the
pale face of his friend, hoping to god he wasn't dead. Leia would
kill him.
Meaning to get back to the Falcon he ran towards the
ally he'd just left. Blood from Luke's burned shoulder ran down his
hand; he didn't look at it.
He reached the alleyway, stopped
short as a group of aliens appeared there; they must have heard the
firefight. He turned to look up the wider street: more aliens
appeared on the horizon.
Han swore, looked down the other
way. There was a boarded up building there, it looked like it hadn't
been opened in years.
In desperation he ran towards it, kicking
at the door to open it. Energy beams splashed off the sides of the
building as the ssi-ruuk fired at their escaping prey. The door broke
down at last and Han ran in, kicking it shut again with a force that
shook the frame. He turned back to face it, slamming the crude bolts
across with one hand as he balanced Luke in the other, locking the
aliens' out.
Dust sprang up where he ran and it was dark and
cold in the huge empty room. He reached the other side, hoping that
there'd be a door at the far end.
There wasn't.
He
laid Luke down by the far wall, gently, trying to avoid the wound on
his shoulder. With Luke laid on the floor, he walked to the wall and
put a hand to the cool surface: it was durasteel: his blaster
wouldn't touch it. Taking his hand away he turned and peered into the
gloom of the building; there were no exits.
There was
an ominous quite from outside; they weren't trying to break in, maybe
they knew that they had them trapped.
Returning to Luke's side,
Han pulled out his pocket luma, its stark white light bringing no
warmth to the room. He laid it down on the floor as he stripped back
the charred clothing around Luke's shoulder.
"Ouch."
he winced in sympathy, feeling a little helpless: he didn't even have
water to wash the wound with.
Thinking hard he ripped a strip
of cloth of his shirt, the tearing sound deafening in the choking
quiet of the dust filled area. He wrapped it around the wound, over
Luke's shoulder and tied it tightly, trying to stop the bleeding, the
white of the material was soon crimson and clinging to the skin, he
looked around again, thinking frantically.
How could they get
out of here? He had no idea.
Leia
ran. She could feel time running out fast, almost like it was a
palpable thing that was running through her fingers and beyond her
reach. Chewie ran beside her, bowcaster at the ready. Something was
wrong. She could feel it in the air, in the quietness of the streets.
Suddenly, her vision exploded. It was like a giant hand shoved
her backwards, she lurched and fell to the ground, clutching her
shoulder and moaning. Fire coursed through her veins and she felt the
intangible feeling of the touch of her brother's mind before it
slipped away from her again.
Chewie was by her side, woofling
worriedly. She looked up at him, "I'm okay." she whispered,
clambering back onto unsteady feet.
A beam of energy hit next
to her left leg, she jumped, bringing her blaster up and firing
instinctively back. A large ssi-ruuk fell to the street. She shifted
her aim, hesitated. At least a dozen ssi-ruuvi paddle beamers were
aimed right at her and Chewie.
They were
surrounded.
---
Luke moaned and moved to put a
hand up to his burning shoulder. Han heard him and jogged over from
where he'd been studying the high, slanted windows, measuring up in
is mind whether or not they'd be able to get out through them. He
reached Luke,
"Hey, its about time you woke up." he
said disarmingly, putting far more humour into it than he
felt.
"Yeah." Luke managed to reply, his voice
sounding faint but strong. Han took his jacket off and folded it
over, placed it under Luke's head. Luke twisted over to look at his
shoulder, he pulled up the edge of the blood-soaked bandage "Ouch."
he said, seeing the burn underneath.
He lay back heavily onto
the floor, rubbing at his temples. Han looked at him anxiously. Well,
at least he was awake. That had to count for something.
"What
happened? And what the hell are you doing here?" Luke asked. Was
that anger in his voice?
"What do you mean 'what am I
doing here'. I'd have thought that was obvious."
"You
shouldn't be here." Luke said, making an attempt at shaking his
head.
Han didn't argue with him, he was concentrating on the
small banging sounds that were coming from the far side of the room.
He stared into the darkness but couldn't see anything."What
happened?" Luke asked again.
It was Han's turn to shake
his head "I don't know. I just arrived as you took a blaster
shot. I-" he faltered, his frustration erupting. "Luke,
what the hell's been happening to you over the past few months?
Leia's been frantic! We thought you were dead, and when we find you,
you turn round and ask what we're doing here. What's going on?"
Han's voice echoed in the huge room, his frustration bouncing of the
walls. Luke's sigh was just a murmur.
"I know, I'm sorry,
I- it's good to see you, Han." he said, turning to look
into his old friends eyes "It's just that, it would have
been better if you'd stayed away. Everything would have been cleared
up by now. I'm sorry." he paused "How is she?" he
asked.
Han looked down into his friends eyes, "Leia's
fine, now she knows your alive, but when we all thought you were
dead..." he blew out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been
holding "Don't ever do that to us again pal," he said, mock
angrily. He reached down and checked the blaster burn. Luke winced as
he touched it. "Your lucky he only hit your shoulder, anywhere
else and you'd probably be dead by now." Han said adjusting the
bandage again.
"I was counting on them having better
aim." he whispered. Han gave him a strange look, wrapping
another strip of cloth around the old bandage. Again, it was soon
soaked.
"'We bleed just to know were alive.'" Luke
quoted as Han leaned back against the cold of the wall.
"Yeah,
well, your definitely alive then."
---
They
sat in silence, which was odd; they hadn't seen each other in months,
and now they couldn't think of anything to say to each other. Han
looked over at Luke; he was laid on the floor still, his eyes closed.
He looks half dead Han thought as studied Luke's pale
features.
In the quiet of the building, the beep of his
comlink was deafening. They both jumped. Uncertainly, Han took it
from his belt. He'd tried to call Leia earlier, but his signal had
been jammed. Had she found a way to break through it? Luke was
staring intently at him. He shrugged. Well, it wouldn't hurt to
answer it.
Han held it up "Yeah?" he asked, tensing
though he wasn't sure what there was to be tense about.
A few
heartbeats that lasted an eternity passed before an unfamiliar
metallic voice answered Han.
"Captain Solo?" it was
a droid's voice, but not like threepio. He glared suspiciously
at the comlink. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Luke tense at
the sound of the droid's voice. Did he know the droid?
"Yeah,
who's this?" he asked the droid. It seemed to hesitate before
replying.
"I am the representative for Elder Fr'h'tokh
of the Ssi-ruuk Imperium." Han glanced over at Luke; his eyes
were bugged "We wish to...negotiate." it said.
Already
Han didn't like the droid. He covered the receiver. "Luke?"
he asked.
Luke seemed dazed and lost in thought. He didn't
answer him.
"Go on." Han said into the comlink. They
didn't have anything to lose.
"You have something we
want, Captain Solo, and, I presume, you want to get out of that
building. If we can be amicable about this, we can all get something
out of this without anyone having to get hurt." They were
threatening him? That wasn't, in Han's experience, the best way to
start a negotiation, obviously they were used to getting their own
way.
"And what would that something you want be?" he
asked, sitting down next to Luke. He looked over at his friend,
looked again when he saw Luke's face. He was frowning, looking down
at the floor. He almost looked terrified.
"Jedi
Skywalker. We understand he is hurt. Give him to us and we will heal
him, and you can go free." Han went cold. Well, that was
blunt.
"And if I don't?" Han said, taking on a
similar blunt tone to that which the droid was using. Luke was
staring at Han's blaster, his face holding a look that sent a shiver
down Han's spine.
The droid seemed to consider that. There was
a flurry of strange whistles from the comlink. "That is not an
option, Captain Solo. If you insist on being difficult, we will have
to use force. I'm sure both of us want to avoid that." Luke was
intent on studying the ground, streaks of blonde hair falling in his
eyes.
"I think that goes without saying." Han said,
thinking fast "Tell me, if I give you Luke, what will you do
with him." A tangible cold entered the room.
"Do
not concern yourself with that." the droid clipped. Well, he
wasn't going to get information out of them that easily then. Better
try a different tact:
"He's injured, how will you heal
him? You are alien, after all." he said, buying time. He hadn't
yet thought of another tact.
"Our technician is well
versed in the human anatomy." The droid said simply. Hmm, that
was interesting -why would a ssi-ruuk know about human anatomy?
"Captain Solo, we are wasting time, will you give us
Skywalker or will we have to come in and get him?"
"You
set one scaly foot in here and I'll kill him before you're
through the door." Han said, putting his best smuggler voice
into action. Luke sighed heavily.
There was another flurry of
whistles before he heard the click of a comlink turning off.
Han
tensed, his blaster out and pointed at the door, senses alert for the
slightest noise of them ready to break through -of course, he didn't
know what good it would do, he wasn't, after all, likely to kill Luke
and-
"You have to do it, Han," a croaky voice said
from beside him.
"What? Do what?" he asked, still
looking at the door, not wanting to take his eyes of it.
"Kill
me." Luke said, quietly.
This time Han did turn to look
at his friend. "What?! Don't be stupid, I'm not going to-"
Luke's eyes looked straight at Han's. Luke pushed up from where he'd
been laid on the floor, the effort making him wince.
"Han,
you have to." he said, his voice full of unchallengeable
conviction. Han just stared at his friend, not quiet believing what
he was hearing.
"Luke... why?" was all he could
think of to say.
Luke shivered and clutched at his shoulder
before leaning back against the wall. "Give me your hand."
He said.
"Huh?" Han didn't understand, but shifting
his blaster to his left hand, he let Luke take his right hand. Luke
pulled it to the side of his head and placed the palm of his hand
against his skin.
"Do you feel it?" he asked. Han
frowned, under his hand he could feel the warmth of Luke's skin, but
in one, minutely small patch he could feel the cold, smooth touch of
metal. He took his hand away and just stared at Luke.
"What
is it?" he asked.
Luke sighed. Shook his head. "Its
I.... I can't explain it. It's...an implant. I-" he
faltered "Han, I...I can't stop it. And I can't do this anymore.
Don't you understand? Corran must have told you, he must have
said..." Luke trailed off.
Han looked at him. "Yes.
Yes, he did." he said, understanding. "But, your not giving
up yet. Its not over, we can get out of here, back to Coruscant and-"
his comlink beeped.
Han picked it up again. "I hope your
argument is better than last time." he said into the
receiver.
"Yes, Captain. I believe we can come to a
better agreement now. Give us Skywalker, and you can have your
wife."
---
Leia squirmed in the
alien's grip, but couldn't get free. She scowled at the alien who
held her; it just looked straight ahead, not meeting her eyes. She
brought her leg up and slammed it into the ssi-ruuk's thigh. It
flinched but if anything its grip got stronger, claws digging into
her skin. Disgusted, she stopped her attempts to break free of it. A
group of larger blue ssi-ruuk and a protocol droid were off in a
corner talking hurriedly, a few times one of them would gesture
towards her, the other would shake its head. Obviously, there was
some sort of argument about her. Probably it was about what to do
with her; when Chewie had been stunned, she'd expected to join him,
but after a string of hurried whistles they had grabbed her and
brought her here to a deserted street in front of an old warehouse.
Why hadn't they stunned her already? She couldn't guess.
She took her eyes of the arguing aliens to stare around her.
The street was as dusty and hot as all the others. There were signs
of a fight on the street, the ground was scuffed and here and there
were drops of blood. Leia kicked at the street floor where there was
a red spot: it was quite fresh. She sighed, trying to relax and let
the Force flow.
Luke's presence was nearby; if it didn't feel
so weak she would have sworn he was very close. The droid was talking
into a comlink now, but they were just out of her hearing. She
sighed, resigned to wait for the conclusion of their
argument.
---
"What?" Han said,
shifting uncomfortably, hoping it was a trick.
"Leia
Organa Solo- your wife. Hand over Skywalker and she'll be returned to
you," the droid said passively
"If you've harmed
her-" he started.
"She is unharmed. For now."
"I'm
sorry. I don't believe you. I don't suppose you have any proof?"
Han said. He bit his lip, looked over to look a Luke. Luke was
concentrating hard. Han covered the receiver before whispering "Is
it her?" He nodded,
"Yeah, and she's fine.
Chewie's been hurt but she doesn't know where he is. She's
outside," he said, looking like he was staring right through the
big metal door at her. He looked back at Han "What now?" he
said quietly.
"I don't know." He answered
honestly.
---
Luke lay back on the floor,
feeling more tired than he had in ages. He closed his eyes, letting
the cool dark permeate his aching body.
He shoulder was
burning; his mind couldn't even begin to concentrate on thinking of a
way out of this. All he wanted to do was fall back into a deep sleep.
He could feel Han's gaze on him, feel his concern radiating out him.
If only Han hadn't arrived, he would have been dead by now, it would
all have been okay- but, now, he didn't know what was going to
happen. His mind shied away from thinking about what would happen if
he went back to the ssi-ruuk. If they had Leia, there was nothing
else they could do but go outside. Another wave of nausea brushed
over him. Maybe they wouldn't be able to heal him anyway. He doubted
they had much knowledge of human medicine.
"Luke?"
"I
don't know, Han." He said to his friend's unspoken
question. With a struggle, he opened his eyes, waited for the room to
stop
spinning before he spoke again "Do you?"
Han
shook his head and studied Luke's face. "No, but we cant stay in
here much longer." He didn't say it but Luke heard it anyway: he
was fading in and out of semi-consciousness, was having to really
struggle to stay awake.
He didn't think he could keep his
eyes open much longer. "Maybe that's best." he
replied.
"Damn it Luke, would you stop talking like that?
We're all going to get out of here - alive." There was a
definite hint of anger in his voice.
Luke didn't answer. His
eyes were closing again, he fought it but couldn't keep them open.
His head felt light, the room began to spin, and Luke kept his eyes
shut and willed it to stop.
"Luke?" Han's worried
voice came through his haze.
"I'm fine." Even to
him, his voice sounded croaky.
He gave himself a few more
minutes to regain control before reopening his eyes. "Come on."
He said, "If were going out there, we might as well do it while
I'm still awake." He smiled weakly.
"You have a
plan?" Han asked, sounding unsure.
"No, but that
never stopped us before."
"Right." Han held
the comlink back up, "You there?" he said into it, checking
his blaster with his right hand.
---
Leia
had tried not to tense as Luke's questioning presence reached out to
her. The touch had felt odd; he was tired and it hadn't lasted long
before he'd gone again. But she knew why they were outside this
warehouse now, and could have a fair guess at what was happening when
the group of larger ssi-ruuk approached her. They whistled to each
other as they approached, obviously still arguing. The largest
ssi-ruuk gestured to the guard holding Leia and they moved forward to
the entrance of the warehouse. A smaller brown ssi-ruuk was saying
something insistently to the larger ones, she wished she had brought
the translator with her. Of to the side, a comlink beeped, the golden
protocol droid answered it, out of range of Leia's hearing. The droid
flicked it back of and walked back up the group, whistling to it's
masters. Leia would have sworn a sly grin crossed the expressionless
faces. All eyes turned to the warehouse entrance.
---
Han
pulled Luke to his feet, slinging one arm around his waist in an
attempt to keep him stable, whilst holding this blaster in the other.
Luke got his feet under him, was almost able to stand on his own.
"Are you sure about this?" Han asked as the stood staring
at the entrance. Luke gave him a rye smile
"No, are
you?" he said.
"No. When we get out there, we might
as well try and fight it out. Can you tell how many are out there?"
Han said, checking his blaster again.
Luke's eyes closed in
concentration. After a moment he opened them again. "I'm sorry.
I...I can't tell. A few. More than a few. I don't know" He shook
his head, the movement making his headache blaze.
"Well,
never mind. " Han said, staring again at Luke's face. It wasn't
the best plan, to just go outside and hope there weren't many out
there, but if it was a choice between that and Luke dying then, well,
then there really wasn't a choice. And besides, Leia was involved now
too...
"Ready?" he asked.
Luke waited just a
moment before answering. "Sure. Lets go."
Han
walked slowly to the door, balancing Luke all the way. As quietly as
possible, he undid the bolts and got a hold on the handle. He looked
at Luke, got a nod in response and pulled the door open.
The
sunlight, in contrast to the dark warehouse, was blinding, Luke put
his hand up in front of his eyes, saw Han resist the urge. They moved
forward a couple of steps, Han making sure Luke didn't stumble. When
his eyes readjusted to the light, Luke looked up from the floor and
into the eyes of at least 30 ssi-ruuk. Nearly all had paddle beamers
pointed at them.
That was that then, he thought, there was no
way they could fight off 30 of them. Luke shivered at the thought of
the entechment bay but kept on walking. Leia, held by the tight grip
of a ssi-ruuk guard shouted his name. He looked up, saw her concerned
gaze instinctively drawn to the cloth wrapped over his shoulder. They
had reached the centre of the group now. Luke swallowed hard, Han
turned to the droid that waited for them.
"A wise
decision, Captain," it was saying, but Luke wasn't listening,
couldn't bring himself to listen. And besides, the world had suddenly
begun to spin and he needed to concentrate on standing up-
Luke!
Leia's thought burst into his mind,
Han's conversation
rattled around his head as he tried to form a message to send back.
The best he could manage was a reassuring look in her direction.
Probably the look hadn't been as reassuring as he'd meant.
Luke,
if I could just get free of this alien, we might have a chance
her mental voice was telling him not to give up hope.
How?
Was all he could manage in reply.
Help me distract it
Luke looked up into her eyes. She was serious. For a moment Luke
thought about refusing, but a look on the biggest blue alien's face
told him none of them were going to get out of here free if they
didn't. Luke closed his eyes against the brightness, swaying slightly
against Han's side. He found the familiar touch of Leia's mind Try
this he said,
One of the other ssi-ruuk behind Leia's
guard was not paying a lot of attention, it held its paddle beamer
loosely. Guiding her, Luke helped Leia brush against its mind.
It
was hot. It didn't like deserts and furthermore couldn't see the
point of all of them being here. It wasn't like they could escape.
Suddenly,
above the sound of Han and the droid's conversation, the ssi-ruuk
started honking and whistling loudly. Leia didn't have a clue what it
was saying, but as soon as it started, she was moving. Her guard's
grip slackened in confusion at the sudden outburst,
Leia twisted
and dived under its grip, up and moving before it had a chance to
grab her. It stumbled forward, trying to grab at the fleeing Leia.
Sharp claws raked across her skin but she kept moving, dodging the
arm of a nearby ssi-ruuk and yanking the paddle beamer out of the
still shouting ssi-ruuk. She swung around and fired. The guard, 2
steps behind her, ran right into her beam and crumpled to the
floor.
Luke's mind snapped free of Leia and he felt himself
falling. His legs gave out from under him and he hit the floor
hard.
The ssi-ruuk were fast, but Han was faster, as Luke started
to fall, one of the aliens started screaming. Han dived under one of
the guard's beam, and crouched protectively over Luke, firing into
the confused aliens. Leia emerged from the crowd, a paddle beamer in
her hand and a dozen aliens chasing. Han fired, the front one fell,
blocking the path to Leia. She twisted backwards and fired again,
sweeping the beam across her crowd of followers.
Around them,
ssi-ruuk fell, but didn't fire back. They didn't want to hit Luke,
she realised.
Han shouted to her. "Leia, get the blue
ones!!" she nodded, searching for the glint of the droid, but
they had disappeared into the boiling mass of angry ssi-ruuk. Han saw
a big alien bearing down on Leia, she started to turn but wouldn't
make it as she stopped to hit another throwing itself at her.
Han
dived forward, rolling and coming to stop in front of the big alien,
blasting it. Leia twisted in shock, having just a bare few seconds to
realise their mistake. Han's move had left Luke crouched on the
floor, a few meters from them. It might as well have been light-year;
the ssi-ruuk had a clear shot at Han without hitting Luke.
"Han!"
she shouted in anguish as the beam cut through his midsection. A look
of shock and realisation passed over his face as he slid to the
ground. "No!!" she screamed, sprinting for her husband, but
the way was already blocked by ssi-ruuk.
Instead, she made
for Luke. He was clutching at his shoulder now, kneeling in the sand,
staring at the ground. Peripherally, she caught a sick, dizzy feeling
from him as the world around him darkened.
She dived for him
and the beams stopped coming. "Luke!" she shouted, hoping
for a reaction, but he didn't hear her. She swept the beam across the
approaching aliens, but with Han down, now there was only one of them
fighting twenty-something aliens, and she couldn't cover all sides.
Ssi-ruuk enclosed her, a vicious kick to her back sent her
beamer flying as she sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath.
A
clawed hand grabbed at her clothes dragging her to her feet. Luke!!!
She sent in desperation, but his mind was quite. Clawed hands wrapped
around her now. She couldn't move.
---
Out of
the crowd, a small brown ssi-ruuk scuttled forward and, as best it
could, bent over Luke. The action made her feel sick, she struggled
to break free and run to Luke.
A sharp jab to the aliens knee
and she sprawled forward, landing next to Luke. She clasped his face
in her hands, looking for a sign he was still awake, knowing the
ssi-ruuk she had just hit would be back in a second.
Luke's
face was cold and pale. Her eyes moved to the burn on his shoulder,
still bleeding heavily. The short ssi-ruuk stared at her in surprise
as she knelt beside Luke. It had produced a hypospray and now bent to
place it to his neck. Protective instincts firing, she jabbed hard at
the aliens side, it tottered away from Luke as a pair of claws hauled
her back and away, this time the grip was harder
and claws dug
welts in her arms.
The brown alien regained its balance and
bent back with the hypospray, somehow knowing the spray meant
something important, she screamed abuse at the alien trying furiously
to get near her brother. A hand clamped across her mouth and dragged
her kicking away.
---
The Admiral approached
Swh'hr'ring when he was sure the President was secured. He bent over
the Jedi, turned back to the technician. "Well?" he
whistled. Swh'hr'ring was still shaken from the Jedi's sister's
attack. He looked at his Admiral, trying to form words. The Admiral
sneered at him "You should have waited until she was
recaptured." he said.
"Ah, yes sir. I..."
Swh'hr'ring tried to reassert himself "He needs immediate aide,
I'm not sure how bad the shoulder wound is, and I don't want to
remove the bandage while we're here, it might become infected."
he managed, still shaking a little.
"What was in that
hypospray?" the Admiral asked, pulling out his comlink to signal
their shuttle to land.
"Something to try and minimise the
damage to the implant. I'm hoping to be able to salvage without
having to take it out and start again: that would take too long. I
should be able to have it working again in just a few days" The
Admiral nodded.
Fr'h'tokh approached and faced the Admiral
"They put up quite a fight." he said, looking over at the
unconscious form of Solo.
"No more than was to be
expected." The Admiral said, before turning to his comlink.
Fr'h'tokh and Swh'hr'ring exchanged worried looks.
Things
certainly could have gone smoother. Leia's screaming abuse could
still be heard in the distance. "Swh'hr'ring, do you have a
sedative for the woman?" he asked, annoyed at the racket.
"Yes, sir." he said, digging into his pack.
The
Admiral turned around sharply. "No. I want her awake for the
moment, I'm not yet sure what to do with her." He said,
beginning to order the troops into a formal marching order to go to
their transport. "But, sir." Fr'h'tokh said, hurrying to
the Admiral's side, "She is quite dangerous, we should leave her
behind." He protested.
The Admiral stopped and looked at
him sternly and with contempt. "She is President of the Republic
we are attacking. She may come in useful if we ever need to
negotiate. And, if Swh'hr'ring is unable to heal Skywalker with the
knowledge he has, it may be necessary to have another human to
study." he clipped. "Either way, she's coming with us."
He added as Swh'hr'ring moved up beside them, shaking his head.
"Sir, Skywalker isn't responding to any of the
treatments." He said. The Admiral continued to walk. "We
need to get back quick if I am going to keep him alive." the
Admiral considered him for a moment, and then nodded. The group was
arranged into a walking order now. A short ssi-ruuk picked up the
limp form of Skywalker and walked briskly to the front as they headed
to their shuttle.
---
Leia held her head bowed,
as if in defeat. The heat was oppressive, she hadn't realised how hot
it was here whilst she and Chewie had been dashing madly round the
small port. She had been too focused on finding Luke to take in
anything else going on around her.
Now, though, as the
procession trudged slowly through the dusty, arid streets she had
time to think about a lot of things.
She had the time to
acknowledge that her mouth was parched and her palms sweaty. She
twisted her wrists in the restraints that held her hands behind her
back. The hot metal burned uncomfortably into her skin. She tried to
get the restraints to slip down her hands a bit further, they moved a
little and started to burn into a new part of her wrists. She stared
down at the ground, trying to keep her face out of the bright glare
of the sun. Strands of long brown hair fell out of her plaits and
clung to her face. The ground really wasn't very interesting, dust
sprang up with every step they took, they had been walking for a
while now, but they didn't seem to be getting very far.
Maybe
it was because all the streets looked the same. And they were all
deserted. She was surprised they were going so slow really, Luke
needed medical aid, surely they knew that. But then, they were alien
after all.
She looked up from the ground. Up ahead, beyond
her guard of ssi-ruuk, she could just see the front of their line.
She knew that somewhere up there one of them was carrying Luke, but
she couldn't make out which one, but she could see the glint of metal
in sunlight that could only be their protocol droid. Luke's mind
buzzed lightly around the edges of her own. One her guards noticed
her staring, with a gesture of its paddle beamer it warned her to
stop. Disgusted, she turned back to study her surroundings again.
Adopting a defeated look again, her mind worked at a way out of this.
What she really needed to do if she was going to accomplish anything
was to get close to Luke. A mad dash for freedom wasn't going to help
either of them and, if nothing else, she might be able to talk to the
leader if she was close to the front of the line. Besides, she felt
she needed to be near Luke, she didn't know what good it would do,
but she had to try. She tried reaching out to him but he didn't
respond. She sighed. Why was it that nothing ever went right? She
should be glad that he was alive and close to her, but the few meters
felt like light years. In the distance a small ship lowered itself
smoothly to the ground. Leia watched it settle, the reflected
sunlight momentarily blinding as the ssi-ruuk fanned out around the
entrance ramp. The front group- including the two larger, slightly
blue coloured ssi-ruuk, stopped in front of the ramp and waited for
her to reach them, Leia could just see a smaller ssi-ruuk disappear
into the ship, carrying Luke. She caught a glimpse of his face, it
was a ghastly white colour, but she could still feel the touch of his
mind on hers.
Her group stopped and Leia turned a steely gaze
on her captors. The protocol droid steeped forward and
spoke.
"President Organa Solo, it has been decided that
you will accompany your brother to our fleet." Out of the
background a large ssi-ruuk stepped forward, paddle beamer in its
hand. Leia tensed. "For safe transit, we feel it would be better
for all of us if you did so unconscious." The alien brought the
beamer up.
"Wait a minute." Leia thought fast "You
haven't thought this through, maybe I can help you/"
The
droid turned a quizzical look on her "How?" it asked
simply.
Leia shifted her feet into a firm stance "I can
help Luke. You obviously want him alive. I can help you." The
droid stared at her a moment before turning to translate for it's
masters. They whistled quietly to each other for a moment before the
droid turned back to her. She could tell they didn't like the idea of
having her next to Luke, but one of the smaller brown ssi-ruuk's was
obviously on her side. Was he the medic?
"Very well,
though any deviation will be suitably punished." She didn't like
the tone of the droids voice, it sent a small shiver down her spine,
but she nodded.
Leia climbed the steep ramp, the metal
slippery with a layer of loose sand. She grabbed at the side of the
ship, pulled her hand back when the metal burned her. A ssi-ruuk
behind her shoved her roughly into the dark, dank shuttle. The
ceiling was barely higher than the ssi-ruuk, and they took up all
available space. A firm hand on her shoulder guided her towards the
front to the only bunk on the small ship. Where Luke lay.
She
knelt down by his side and touched his forehead; it was still cold.
She turned around as the small brown ssi-ruuk she'd seen earlier
stood uneasily next to her. It tensed as she moved suddenly to stand
up. From the back, there was the sound of the shuttle door closing.
Twenty-some ssi-ruuk honked and whistled quietly to each other.
She
brandished her binders at the small alien, shouting above the
combined whine of repulsor lifts and ssi-ruuk "I can't help
him if you don't let me free." she stared at it, emphasising her
point. One of the larger blue aliens moved next to her. It whistled
to the droid, which moved in to undo her hands. The airless shuttle
jolted slightly as it lifted off. The droid clasped her hands in
front of her and put the binders back on.
She sighed, typical.
At least she had some free movement of her hands. The blue
alien whistled to the crowd of ssi-ruuk. Two stepped forward and
glared at Leia, obviously meant to be guards.
Leia ignored
them and turned back to her brother. The smaller ssi-ruuk was bent
down beside him, using a hand-held med scanner to try and find the
extent of the wound. She turned back to the droid standing over them
"Ask him if I can help" she said to it. Hesitantly, it
obeyed. The ssi-ruuk glared, but moved out the way to let Leia in.
She crouched down to the deck, the metal grating of the floor
biting uncomfortably into her knees. Luke was strapped firmly to the
bunk, whether for his or their safety she wasn't sure. A dim light
lit the alcove. She brushed a strand of blonde hair out of his eyes,
felt cold sweat on his brow. Ssi-ruuk honked softly behind her. She
took his hand, clasping it in both of hers. Ignoring the acceleration
and noises of the shuttle, she stretched out to the Force. Luke's
mind buzzed just below consciousness. Leia clung to his sense as he
drifted.
She could feel a burning in his shoulder, knew the
blaster wound must ache. Not opening her eyes, she reached over and
felt the injured patch. She'd had a blaster wound before, on Endor,
but this felt different, the skin was more torn and he was bleeding
too much, probably the blaster's were old, or were set on the highest
setting. She traced the outline of the burn, wincing at the charred
flesh.
As she traced it, she felt the pain subside. Leia
didn't know how to heal through the Force, she really only knew a few
pain suppression tricks, but she needed to get Luke into a healing
trance. She felt for his presence again and found it. She tried to
begin the trance, hoping Luke would follow her lead.
Heartbeat:
Steady.
Breathing: Deep but slow.
She tried to get
every aspect right before moving away from him. She opened her eyes
as he sank into the trance. Rocking back on her heals, she stared at
his face for what seemed like forever. A clawed hand touched her
shoulder and moved her away into the grip of one of her guards. The
smaller ssi-ruuk bent down and studied the reading on his med sensor.
"He's in a Jedi healing trance." She said, hoping
it would be explanation enough. The ssi-ruuk eyed her suspiciously
before moving to the front of the shuttle to talk with the blue
ssi-ruuk, she twisted slowly out of the guards grip and knelt back by
Luke's side, staying there for the whole journey back.
"I
have an idea." she replied, matching his stare and his
tone.
"Really? What do you know? Do you know that this
has been planned for a very long time? That he's here for the same
reason we were interested in him some 14 years ago over
Bakura?"
Leia didn't say anything.
"Do you
know that he has an implant right about...here." he moved
uncomfortably close to her and tapped lightly on the back of her
head. His voice lowered as he leaned in closer, "Do you know
that we can control his every action? That he is just a shell now?"
His voice was a harsh, grating whisper as his breath brushed her
cheek "President, do you know just how many people your brother
has killed in the last month?"
Her eyes bugged but she
couldn't think of anything to say. He moved back away from her, but
his presence still hung close like a wet blanket.
"What
have you done?" she said at last, unable to keep her voice
neutral anymore.
"Only what needed to be done. Tell me,
do you still want to save him?"
"He won't help
you, you know, you can't make him."
"Cant we?
We already have." His voice was laced with pleasure,
"Except
that he got away from you once." Leia challenged,
"Once,
yes. It was a mistake. Don't worry, it won't happen again. For
one thing, we have you now." he said.
"That won't
make any difference to him. It doesn't matter what you do, he will
still resist you." she said.
"You don't sound too sure, President." he smiled "I
think you ought to know that any actions by you to either escape or
sabotage, wont just affect how you are treated. I hope that is
understood."
"Perfectly." Leia said, biting
back a vicious comment. She didn't trust this alien's temper.
"If
you comply, you will be repaid." She said nothing. "He'll
be awake in a few hours. You can see him, and then, perhaps, you will
have to decide where your true loyalties lie."
"I
can't tell you I'll help you." She said as the p'w'ecks
moved back into a guard position around her.
"It wouldn't
be me you were helping. We can do this with or without your
help, understand that. This affects your brother only."
"And
the New Republic."
"Yes. That decisions is yours
alone. Make the right one."